30/07/2016 Road to Rio

Welcome. This is Road to Rio. With just a few days to go until the

Olympics begin, we have an action packed final programme, featuring

some of the biggest sports and athletes who will be going for gold

with Team GB. One is Katarina John said. Can she become a champion in

her own right? Team GB athletes check out the gear and Games. And we

catch up with the Para Equestrian team, which includes this champion,

who says it will be his toughest Games yet. The competition is so

seriously hot now that if I come home with a medal I will be very

happy. All of that and much more to come. We start with 1-off GB's

highest profile sportsmen, Tom Daley. He has won every single

diving or not, except Olympic gold, so he is hoping to complete what

will be a career Grand Slam in Rio. I am Tom Daley and over the past

eight years I've been working as hard as I possibly can to make my

third Olympic dream come true. Back in 2008, at Beijing, I qualified

when I was 13 and competed when I was 14 and then in 2009 at one the

World Championships and ever since I got the taste of him on top of the

world I've always wanted to win an Olympic gold medal. Then, in London

20, it was the home Olympics and one of the most exciting things about.

There are 18,000 people coming to support me, friends, family,

millions at home. To come away with a bronze medal was amazing. To win a

medal and go to the Olympics in front of a home crowd is something

that is so hard to put into words. After that, in 2013, it was one of

my toughest years of diving. I was injured with a bad tricep, I had to

redo one of the giants in the final. I started to go really downhill and

I was so terrified every single time that I went to the diving board. But

I got through it. I took a bit of Tynemouth, six weeks go travel the

world and do what I wanted to do, reset my brain, and then I came back

to diving and wanted a bit of a change, so I moved to London and

have a new coach and ever since then I haven't really looked back. I've

been working as hard as I possibly can in the weight room, with my

nutrition, psychology, everything. And I also had to learn a new dive,

three and a half somersault with one twist, and it was a bit of a risk to

learn a new dive so close to the Games, but I've been working on

consistency and now going into Rio 2016 I feel like I am at my peak

form and shape and hopefully going into this competition I just want to

go out there and win an Olympic gold medal. I knew it is something that

seems surreal to say, but I have to believe that I can win the gold

medal and 55 until the very end, but wish me luck!

Tom Daley obviously isn't the only British athlete going for gold in

Rio and recent results suggest the likes of Greg Rutherford and Alice

dead stomach -- Alastair Brownlee could be on their way to success.

Plenty of athletes in top form and they will certainly need to take

that into the Games because Team GB have been set target of 48 medals in

Rio, fewer than 65 they claimed at London, but it would be a record

haul for an Olympics on foreign soil. Before the stress of

competition kicked in, I caught up with some of the team as they

collected their Olympics kit. Welcome to Birmingham and the

national exhibition centre, where over the past four weeks around 350

Team GB real Olympic bound athletes have been here to pick up over

100,000 pieces of kit. It's a very special experience,

going to an Olympics and getting your kit is part of that. I just

looking forward to wearing it all. Can you get it in a large? Every

four years the Olympics comes around, the biggest event of

everyone's career and it is the first time I will experience it.

I've been fortunate enough that I will be going into my fourth and

matter how many times you've been you are proud to be representing

Britain. Getting all of the kit, I still keep

thinking it is like replica kit, and I have to be like, this is yours!

Yes, a special day. Any athletics kit I have tried on. I think I have

tried on an extra small women's best and I fill it out quite well! --

vest. We are here with this world Champion swimmer. What is your

favourite bit of kit? This is pretty cool. Completely different. Not the

standard rucksack I usually get. It is Team GB Rio 16. To be part of

that team is pretty special. Nice Thai! Yes, a tie and T-shirt look.

Dairy smart. The trackies and the polos, it is all spectacular. This

will be my first PG experience, and will hopefully go there and race as

fast as I can. And win a medal. I don't want to

come forth! I will go with an open mind. I will do them proud. It has

been an absolutely amazing day. It is great to be with their teammates,

because it brings the whole experience alive and it's a feeling

of, we are actually going! There is no bigger or greater competition to

do than the Olympic Games. It just means so much and to where the flat

makes me a little bit more proud. -- to bear the flag. It certainly was a

very fun day. Think of heptathlon and he will probably think of

Jessica Ennis-Hill, the Olympic champion from London 2012. One of

the favourites for Olympic gold is Katarina Johnson-Thompson. She has

had her problems, she looks to be timing for Olympic podium push to

perfection. Just remind us of those Games at

London 2012. The habitat on was the first event of the whole athletics

calendar and I have never done anything like that in my life.

80,000 people, the noise was incredible. I don't think I will

ever experience anything like that again in my life. After 2012 a lot

of people were putting a lot of pressure on you, in terms of you are

the next big thing. How did you cope with that? In 2012 it was hard

because I was 19. I came 15th in the Olympics and I thought, I've got a

lot of work to do! I don't have any -- if I am going to have any hope of

a shot in the next four years. A lot of people believe you can be the

next big thing, that gives you an extra push. There have been ups and

downs, glimmers of good performances. The gold medal is

hers! What a performance from Katarina Johnson-Thompson! She is

the European indoor champion! The new British recordholder! You don't

learn anything by winning because you just assume everything is great

and you carry on. So last year I had a lot of learning experiences. There

has been a slow buildup. I think I am a different athlete. I am more

mature now. Obviously people will make national comparisons with

Jessica Ennis. How has that been, with her coming back to the sport?

As that provided more inspiration? To me it has been my dream since I

was a little girl. I'm glad she is back and performing really well. I

think this Olympics will be very hard, and the weather wins it will

be on a good score. I am looking forward to the battle!

The habitat fond will be one of the major highlights of the Olympics,

but what about the Paralympics? -- heptathlon. London was seen as a

breakthrough Games for disability sport. The Britain team were among

the star performers and had -- hope to make their mark again at Rio.

A team of five riders and their horses have been selected as part of

the Paralympics Team GB and although they are small team it is renowned

for being one of the most successful, topping the medals table

in Beijing and London. But it is not expected to be so easy in Rio, with

the rest of the world catching them up. I think all of the nations have

looked at us as riders, the British team, looked at our support staff

and systems, the lottery funding that we receive, the private

sponsorship, the horsepower and also Great Britain was one of the first

countries to look at up-and-coming athletes and nurture kind of the

young really in all sports, equestrian as well. So it will be

really, really competitive at Rio. The past Games I was going to win

and try to get triple gold medals, but the competition is so seriously

hot now that if I come home with a metal Idol be very, very happy.

Thanks to athletes lately appears that the deception of disability is

changing in the UK. -- perception. Now they will try to carry that

Olympic movement across the world and with the Games taking place for

the first time ever in South America has never been a better opportunity.

I really hope that Rio has sold a lot of seats, so people can see

disability sport in a flash and see what disabled people can do. It is a

really good starting point for changing perception around

disability and I hope that the Paralympics will help not just

athletes, but other disabled people to live their life like they should.

Still to come on Road to Rio: Week -- we catch up with Audley Harrison

and see how his success has paved the way for other champions. Andy

Stiles got the closest thing to a guaranteed Olympic gold for Team GB?

We see if Britain's sailors can rule the waves in Rio. First, the

preparations for this Olympics have been far from smooth. US issues in

Brazil, the Russian doping scandal and of course the return of golf to

the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Controversial because

the world's top four men would be in Rio.

Tim Hague picks up the story. The game of golf has come a long way in

112 years. Into the lead, the Americans. 1904 was the first time

the Olympics featured roles, yet that will all change in Rio de

Janeiro. A cause for celebration and for controversy. The world's top

four players were given be there. No Jason Day, Jordan Spieth Dustin

Johnson or Rory McIlroy. I am very happy with the decision that I've

made and I have no regrets about it. I will probably watch the Olympics,

but I am not sure golf will be one of the events I will watch. What

will you watch? The stuff that matters. Those now infamous comments

prove that as well as fears over the Zika virus some of the stars just

don't have the appetite to play Olympic gold. It is all rather

embarrassing, eating golf was selected ahead of other sports like

squash and karate to appear in the Olympics and could be damaging for

the future. -- given golf. It won't help. We are disappointed. They all

have their reasons. On the positive side all of the top women are

playing and we have half of the top men playing, so it's a strong field.

When golf was last featured at the Olympics not a single woman played.

This course will see a very different competition and, unlike

the men, everyone will be there. I think it felt really convenient to

them, to use as eager as an excuse. When you consider the disparity

between the men's and women's tournament, the drive that we have

for passion is evident. And while the men have a track that all the

bad publicity, the likes of open champion Henrik Stenson and former

U.S. Open champion Justin Rose will be going for gold. If I was the fast

forward ten years I would like my career to read Justin Rose multiple

Olympic -- champion and Olympic medallist. It would be very special.

Just how special the golf competition becomes could be the

deciding factor in its future in the Tokyo Games in 2020.

Boxing can be one Team GB's big medal winners, they will take 12

athletes to Brazil, the biggest squad since 1984 and hopes are high

after five medals at London 2012 but many credit orderly Harrison with

helping route even make the sport when he won the super heavyweight

title at Sydney 2000, ending a 32 year wait for a GB boxing gold. I

spoke to him earlier. We only had two boxers qualify for Sydney, it

wasn't a lottery funded sport so there was a lot riding on going

their. I was so confident I was going to get the gold, not just for

me but the future of boxing so we could become lottery funded. It was

a festival of sport, all the athletes, Sir Steve Redgrave,

everyone was there, nobody knew boxing, so I dyed my hair different

colours, I was really look kosher is, lots of charisma, I wanted

people to see not just what I could do in the ring but out of the ring

as well. For fights in ten days is an arduous task but I was up to the

challenge. Each time I won a bout I could feel the crowd was building,

and when I got to the final there was 10,000 people singing orderly, a

amazing occasion to go there and not just for yourself but for your

country to win a gold-medal. A magical moment in my life, not just

for me but for boxing too. It completely revolutionised the sport

in the UK after that? Yeah, now you look at the Olympics and you saw the

success of London 2012, even in 2008 we had three medallists. After the

Olympics, after Sydney we became a lottery funded sport and pumping

that money in has allowed the athletes to be trained and to be

paid to be full-time athletes, to have the support staff, to have all

the sports science needed. You can see we've caught up with the rest of

the world and now boxing is a sport where you're looking, how many

medals are we going to get? Before it was how many would qualify. It's

a huge turnaround and bravo to boxing. Sydney is where it all

started. Absolutely. In terms of other big changes, the world of

boxing has been thrown up in terms of what will be happening in the

future because we now have professional boxers allowed into the

pics. Has it changed the pathway we have seen from amateur to

professional? What do you make of that change? The Olympic ideal, I

always had that ideal of going to the Olympics like it is a Harvard

degree and you take it, turn professional and you have a new

career. Now the line has been blurred to some degree, the amateurs

don't fight with head guards this Olympics. They use a ten point

system. You will get professionals and amateurs mixing and it's a

shame. Team Gmail prospects in boxing, Nicola Adams must excite

you? Definitely. Nicola Adams has had a great career already am going

to Rio with a chance of defending an Olympic title, so excited for her.

She definitely... Looking at her performances in the qualifiers and

the World Championships, she hasn't put a foot wrong and I think Nicola

Adams could be our first two-time Olympic boxing champion. An amazing

achievement for her and boxing. Certainly would. Thank you very much

for your time. Before Nicola Adams competes in Rio she will pass

through the Team GB holding camp in Belo Horizonte, the same base the

England football team news during the football World Cup in 2014. Wyre

Davis has been to check out the venue.

How many medals the British team will win at these Olympic Games

depends in many parts on the preparation before the games. This

is the tennis club in Belo Horizonte, and our's flight north of

Rio de Janeiro but it is here the preparation camp has been set up.

Half of the athletes will come through here, boxers, table tennis

players, athletes, weightlifters, and it's been set up with ?1 million

of lottery funding. Of course there's a lot of interest

in how Team GB is preparing for these games and achieving that medal

target of 48 medals after coming third in the medals table in London

2012. Many of the top British women is here in Belo Horizonte using this

magnificent facilities secured by Team GB. Rugby players, athletes and

archers will be using this facility, many in Belo Horizonte before moving

back to Rio for the competition proper. Belo Horizonte is some way

from Rio de Janeiro but in being here Team GB think they have the

best training facility in Brazil and the attention to detail is the key

thing. This, or example, is exactly the same kind of running track the

athletes will have at the elliptic stadium in Rio. The athletes will be

here until three days before they start competition in Rio. Lip-out

Olympics. Its home from home very much, all away from the hurly-burly

of Zika, unfinished buildings and the competition in Rio itself and it

is what might help Team GB achieved its highest medals target away from

home ever in Olympic competition. Wyre Davis reporting for us there.

British sailors have won at least one gold at each of the last four

Olympics, much of that was down to this man, sir Ben Ainslie. He did

retire from dinghy sailing after London 2012 but there are still

plenty of medal prospects. We asked the double Olympic champion Sarah

Clinton for her take on the current squad. Hi, I'm Sarah there a ten

OBEs, winning my first Olympic gold in Athens and then four years later

in Beijing. For you... I'm one of the three blondes in a boat. Going

on current form, Giles Scott is definitely one of my favourite. He's

been dominating the Finn class for the last three years so he has got

to be my number one pick and then you have got past medallists from

2012. In Olympic sport if you win a medal you're likely to go again, so

that puts Hannah in the mix in the 470 class and also in the

windsurfing, Brodie sure in the RS X has a good chance of winning a medal

and Nick Thompson in the laser class. In the last couple of years

he has started to get those performances at World Championships,

so fingers crossed it goes well for him in Rio and he gets a medal.

It's going to be a bit of a problem in Rio but to be fair, before every

Games there's always something. In China there was the seaweed problem

and in Rio we have the pollution. As I say, you have to take precautions.

I know it sounds silly, if it's windy you have to keep your mouth

shut when you get a wave in your face. So it's things like that and

really looking after yourself. Team GB is one of the most

successful sailing nations in the world, so there's every reason to be

excited about the 16th. -- Rio 2016. Good luck to them. That's just about

it from the final Road to Rio, the journey to the 2016 games is almost

complete for the 15,000 athletes who will compete across the Olympics and

Paralympics. To whet your appetite, here's a look back at the

breathtaking games of London 2012. Goodbye.